Cleveland Cavaliers v Orlando Magic Live

While the Cavs’ roster does not look all that impressive, the team around Antawn Jamison managed to compensate its lack of All-Stars with hard-nosed defense and unselfish ball movement in the first month of regular season action. Thus, the Cleveland Cavaliers will try to get a win on the road when they meet Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic on Saturday at midnight GMT.

Even though the Magic are holding on to an excellent 9-4 record, there have been some areas of concern early in this year’s NBA campaign. More precisely, Orlando had no problem steamrolling weaker opponents but struggled competing with other contenders as they experienced losses versus Miami, Utah and San Antonio. Likewise, former All-Star Vince Carter is not the player he used to be and has been posting career-lows at 13.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per contest. Moreover, as dominant as Dwight Howard might be in the paint, his inability to knock down free throws remains a problem as far as closing out contested games is concerned. That said, the Magic should be able to get their tenth win of the season when the Cavs are in town on Saturday night.

You can watch all games of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of NBA live streaming.

Posted: 12th November 2009

Even though the Cleveland Cavaliers entered this year’s NBA campaign as contenders to win it all, the team around LeBron James had some ups and downs in the first two weeks of play. Hoping to get back on track, the Cavs will head to Florida to face the Orlando Magic at Amway Arena on Thursday at 1 a.m. GMT.

The Orlando Magic on the other hand got off to a spectacular start as they managed to win five out of six and completely outplayed their opponents. However, the team around Dwight Howard experienced a slight setback when they suffered a humiliating 28-point blowout loss versus the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday afternoon. That said, it should be mentioned that the Magic are currently without Vince Carter, Ryan Anderson and Rashard Lewis. Nonetheless, Stan van Gundy was very upset with the performance of his team, especially due to the lack of intensity at the defensive end of the floor. As far as offensive production goes, Dwight Howard once again underlined his importance for the franchise as he averaged 20.0 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per contest.

In contrast, the Cleveland Cavaliers are not content with the way LeBron James and company played thus far. More precisely, the Cavs struggled to get their offense going and relied almost entirely on James to draw double teams and find the open teammate. While that would most likely be enough to make it to the post-season, it does not make the Cavaliers the championship contender they want to be. That said, there is still plenty of time to get their act together, after all the Cavs added no less than five new players to their lineup and are still working on finding their rhythm at both ends of the floor. Especially the integration of Shaquille O’Neal might take some time since Mike Brown squad used to focus exclusively on pick-and-rolls with LeBron in charge. Therefore, the slow start of the Cavs might just be a sign of them still being in transition and should not be overrated. In conclusion, the audience can expect a hard-nosed battle between two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference that will do everything to clinch a win at Amway Arena. Albeit the Magic are shorthanded, they are still an excellent team and should be able to give the Cavs a run for their money. Likewise, the encounter between Orlando and Cleveland will feature a great matchup between All-Stars Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal at the center position.

You can watch all games of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of NBA live streaming

Posted: 5th May 2009

With a 112-102 home win the Cleveland Cavaliers managed to avoid post-season elimination and can still hope to advance to the NBA Finals. Leading the series 3-2, the Orlando Magic will host the Cavs in game six of the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday at 1:30 a.m. GMT.

When the Cavaliers took a 32-10 lead at the end of the first quarter everything looked like it was going to be an easy blow-out win at home for the Cavaliers. However, much like in the first two games of the series the Magic stayed in the game and slowly started cutting down the deficit as the game went on. At halftime Orlando was already back in the game only being down 55-56, thus the crowd at Quicken Loans Arena started to feel uncomfortable with the way the Cavaliers were playing. The lead was going back and forth until the last minutes of the fourth quarter when LeBron James took over to secure a crucial playoff win for Cleveland.

LeBron James led all scores with a huge triple-double and finished the night with 37 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists. Mo Williams added another 24 points including an excellent 6-of-9 shooting performance from beyond the 3-point line. In contrast, Hedo Turkoglu was the leading scorer for the Magic with 29 points and 6 rebounds. All-Star center Dwight Howard put up 24 points and pulled down 10 boards before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

Although the Cavaliers were able to avoid elimination in game five they will most likely face a more difficult task on the road in game six. Firstly, the Magic had a bad 3-point shooting night in game five, point guard Rafer ‘Skip To My Lou’ Alston even went 1-of-9 from beyond the arc. Secondly, the Cavaliers had the luxury of Dwight Howard already having fouled out late in the fourth and thus no low-post presence around to intimidate LeBron James. Considering that James looked exhausted at times and has to play heavy minutes to carry his team it remains to be seen whether he will be able to keep up his amazing 42 points per game average of the series.

You can watch game six of the NBA Eastern Conference finals right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of live NBA streaming. Avoiding elimination in game five at home, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will now head to Orlando for game six of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

Posted: 27th May 2009

After a tough loss in game two, the Magic were able to bounce back at home with a convincing 99-89 win versus the Cleveland Cavaliers. Thus, the Cavs will be in Orlando for their second road game of the series on Wednesday at 1:30 a.m. GMT.

Some might have thought that LeBron’s buzzer-beater in game two would destroy Orlando’s spirit, but the Magic proved in game three that they are able to deal with emotional losses. Unlike the first two games when they were trailing throughout most of the game, the Orlando Magic came out of the locker room ready to compete. Although it was a one point game at half time, the Magic started pulling away in the third and never looked back.

Lebron James led the Cavaliers with 41 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds but was only 11-of-28 from the floor while missing seven of his eight attempts from beyond the arc. Unfortunately for Cleveland, LeBron’s teammates were shooting even worse, in fact only Delonte West and Mo Williams finished the game in double digits. In contrast, Orlando’s scoring was fairly even distributed while Dwight Howard was leading the Magic with 24 points and 9 rebounds. Key player Hedo Turkoglu was held to 1-of-10 shooting from the field but made up for it by grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out 7 assists.

In game four on Wednesday the Magic will have the opportunity to defend their home court and possibly extend their series lead to 3-1. Without any doubts this game will be crucial for the Cavaliers as a loss would mean that they had to win three straight to make it to the finals. Considering that the officials had to call 58 fouls including one flagrant and two technicals in game three, the audience can expect a very physical game four from both sides. Even though the Cavaliers might be a better defensive team overall, they will have a tough time coming away with a road-win unless they find a way to contain Orlando’s 3-point shooting.

You can watch game four of the NBA Eastern Conference finals right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of live NBA streaming. Leading the series 2-1, the Orlando Magic are hoping to further extend their Eastern Conference Finals lead on Wednesday.

Posted: 25th May 2009

Without any doubts game two could have gone either way, but ultimately it were the Cavaliers that were able to secure a 96-95 win versus the Orlando Magic to tie the series at one game each. They will now travel to Orlando where the Magic will host the Cavs at Amway Arena on Monday at 1:30 a.m. GMT.

Much of game two looked a lot like what happened in the series opener of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Magic and the Cavs. The Cavaliers were able to take a huge lead during the first half and were up by as many as 23 points. However, Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic were able to come back and get closer to the Cavaliers in the third quarter. To some extent the spurts and droughts the Magic frequently undergo are caused by their excessive three point shooting. As the clock was winding down in the fourth, Hedo Turkoglu was able to convert a difficult off-balance jumpshot in the lane to give the Magic a 95-93 lead. While some might have thought that the game was over at this point, MVP LeBron James proved them wrong once again. With only one second remaining in regulation, James was able to hit a deep three-pointer at the buzzer to even the series at one game each.

Looking forward to game three, it looks like everybody is expecting another close game. Both games between these two teams were decided by the last possession, thus it seems fair to assume that it might turn into a fairly long series. Although Cleveland is generally considered to be the better overall team, they seem to be unable to efficiently defend Orlando’s 3-point shooting. Likewise, Cleveland’s role players will have to step up to take some weight off LeBron James’ shoulders.

You can watch game three of the NBA Eastern Conference finals right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of live NBA streaming. Although the Cavaliers avoided going down 0-2 in game two, they still lost their home-court advantage and will now head to Florida where they will face the Orlando Magic in game three.